Archive for October 2008

SERIES: Lost Purse Part 3

This is a series about a certain purse owned by the Sangl Family.  Unlike every other series I have written, I am NOT excited to be writing this one.

Part 3 – A Chance

Jenn was devastated over the loss of her purse.  I gave her some money to go get the Chinese food and started unloading the car.

About ten minutes after Jenn had left, my cell phone rang with the caller ID reading "Jennifer Sangl".  I thought, "Jenn has found her phone!"

I answered the phone and said, "Jenn!  You found your purse!"

A voice on the other end said, "Hello?"

Short story – the caller was the McDonald's employee.  They had went out in the lobby and Jenn's purse was still sitting IN THE LOBBY.  It had been there for over seven hours!

I asked the caller to tell me her name and told her that if she would mail it to me, there would be a reward.  I think she is a teenager – she had no clue about how to mail something.  No clue!  I had to walk her through exactly how to mail it.

That was on Sunday evening.

On Monday, late in the morning, I received another phone call from Jenn's phone.  The girl was at the post office to mail the purse!  She said, "I have no money.  Can I use some of the money in the purse?"  Apparently, the money was still in the purse!!!

My answer?  AB-SO-LUTE-LY!

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SERIES: Lost Purse Part 2

This is a series about a certain purse owned by the Sangl Family.  Unlike every other series I have written, I am NOT excited to be writing this one.

Part 2 – The Panic

Upon discovery that the purse was missing, I immediately logged in to our bank accounts to see how much of our money was missing with fraudulent charges.  $0 of unexpected charges were there.  Whew! 

I then had Jenn prepare a list of everything that was in the purse.  It was a mile-long list. Smile

I called the bank and had them shut off the debit cards.  The person at the bank was extremely helpful.  I could not believe how helpful they were!

Then I tried to remember where exactly the McDonald's was.  I remembered that there was a Red Box outside the store that was not working.  I looked up on Red Box's website to find the McDonalds in the Nashville area.  There were none that made sense.

So I pulled up Google Maps and searched "McDonald's Nashville, TN".  I found two that were located about where I thought we had pulled off.  When I zoomed in on the "Satellite" view, I was able to narrow in on the store.

I called the store and confirmed that they had a Red Box outside that was not working and the type of interior the store had.  I asked them if a purse had been turned in.  They said, "Yes!"  I was PUMPED!  Then they told me that it was actually a backpack with a bunch of clothes in it.  I was SAD!

They said that they did not have a purse, but that I should call back each day to see if it were turned in.  Right.  Like that is going to flippin' work! 

Oh – one more thing – did I mention that Jenn left her cell phone in her purse?  Now we have no purse, all the cash is gone, the iPod is gone, the checkbooks are gone, our old Purdue college IDs are gone.  It is ALL gone.

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The Stock Market

I have held off on commenting on the stock market until today.

Here are my thoughts on the economy …

  • We can't borrow our way out of it.
  • We are here because of debt and loans made to persons who had zero ability to repay.
  • If this is what it takes to make America start planning their spending, saving money, and having a plan for its future, then bring it on.  I'm OK with my generation paying the tab and delivering a balanced-budget, low-taxation, and zero debt government to my daughter and the next generation.
  • This is yet another reason why I am a HUGE fan of diversified investments, being 100% debt-free, and holding a well-funded emergency fund.
  • God is bigger than the US economy.

What can the average American do?

  • SAVE money
  • Eliminate debt – Calculate your Debt Freedom Date HERE
  • Prepare and live by a written spending plan – Prepare your budget HERE
  • Help a fellow neighbor

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SERIES: Lost Purse Part 1

This is a series about a certain purse owned by the Sangl Family.  Unlike every other series I have written, I am NOT excited to be writing this one.

Part 1 – The Loss

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that Jenn and I traveled to southern Illinois last weekend to celebrate her grandfather's 90th birthday party.  It was a wonderful trip.  Her grandfather is a real-life WWII and Korean War hero.  He was machine gunned down in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge and fought in the Koren War too.  He is an amazing man, and it was our honor to attend his birthday party.

Anyway, we headed home on Sunday.  It was about a nine hour drive home.  We stopped and grabbed some lunch at a McDonald's just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.  We then stopped one more time for some gas.  As we arrived home at around 8PM on Sunday evening, I told Jenn that it would be great to grab some Chinese food.

Jenn said, "No problem.  I will unload the car while you go pick it up.  Let me get you some cash for the food."

She reached down to grab her purse, and the feeling of dread set in.  She immediately knew that it was not in the car and that it had to be at the McDonald's that we had stopped at nearly SIX HOURS ago.

Panic might be an understatement.  Many of our cash envelopes were in the purse.  It also contained debit cards, checks, an iPod, and a lot of other stuff.  Frankly, I could not believe everything that Jenn said was in that purse.  Ladies who read this blog – HOW do you fit all of that stuff in your purses?????

So …  what do you do when you lose your purse?

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Marching To Debt Freedom – Couple #3 – Month 10

Introduction

This couple has been married for many years and have one child.   They have HAD IT with their debt and have been marching toward debt freedom since November 2007.  They are THROUGH with credit cards.

Good things this month

We are seeing balances come down due to making higher payments (National City) and lower or no interest on the others!  YEAH!!!!

Challenges this month

Still gas prices … BUT we have restructured our schedules to only run errands once a week if possible and it has really helped out! 

Updated Debt Freedom Date …

Month By Month Progress …

Sangl Says …

You can see the progress being made by Couple #3 now!  There were several months where the debt was being restructured by transferring credit card balances to 0% and low interest rate credit cards.  Now that all of that money is going directly to the principal, look at how swiftly they are dropping!!!  Couple #3 dropped their debt by a huge amount last month!  Outstanding.

Readers …

Are you paying high interest on your credit cards?  Move the balances to zero percent and low interest cards!  That can really help one gain traction toward debt freedom.  There are several 0% balance transfer credit cards available on the Next Steps page.

My book, I Was Broke. Now I'm Not, is available via AMAZON.COM, BORDERS.COM, and PAYPAL.  You can read the Introduction HERE.  In this book, you will learn exactly how Jenn and I became debt-free in just fourteen months.